WASHINGTON, D.C. – USAgainstAlzheimer's today announced that Jeff Eller, chairman of Public Strategies, Inc. and former Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Media Affairs in the Clinton Administration, will join USAgainstAlzheimer’s Board.

“We are honored to have Jeff join our Board,” said George Vradenburg, Chairman and Co-Founder of USAgainstAlzheimer’s. “He brings proven communications and strategic skill sets to our efforts to advance Alzheimer’s solutions to the ten million baby boomers at risk for the disease.”

Currently, 5.2 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s and nearly 15 million more provide unpaid care to loved ones suffering from Alzheimer’s. In a recent report, RAND concluded that Alzheimer’s costs to the nation exceed $200 billion, making it 50% more expensive than cancer. In the coming decades, the number of Americans suffering from Alzheimer’s will triple, costing the U.S. more than $2 trillion in the next 10 years alone. Without a cure, over 10 million baby boomers will die with the disease.

Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S. and remains the only disease in the top ten with no disease-modifying treatment or cure. Despite the personal and financial toll Alzheimer’s inflicts, the National Institutes of Health invests only about $484 million per year toward Alzheimer’s research – substantially less than the $6 billion in annual investment in cancer research. However, researchers say with dedicated funding for research it is possible to stop Alzheimer’s within the decade.

"Like millions of other Americans, I've experienced the toll Alzheimer's disease can have on a family, and understand the need to change the public’s perception of the disease," said Dee Dee Myers, former White House Press Secretary for President Bill Clinton, and the managing director of public affairs at The Glover Park Group. "Having worked with Jeff, I'm confident he will help to make a meaningful contribution to USAgainstAlzheimer's efforts to make finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease a national priority."

Jeff Eller is a former reporter who served in the Clinton White House as deputy assistant to the President and director of media affairs. In 2009, Eller became the chairman of Public Strategies, Inc., an Austin, Texas based firm which applies political campaign tactics to corporate issues. Jeff will bring invaluable communications and messaging insight gained through years of experience in the public and private sectors to build public support for advancing Alzheimer’s solutions to the American people.

“It is an honor to be asked to work with this amazing group, which recognizes the need to tap into the anger and frustration that patients and caregivers feel as a result of the disease, said Eller. “I look forward to collaborating with USAgainstAlzheimer’s in the fight to stop Alzheimer’s by 2025.”

USAgainstAlzheimer’s is dedicated to advancing research, drug development and care innovations in Alzheimer’s in order to make achieving the goal of ending Alzheimer’s by 2025 a reality.

USAgainstAlzheimer's is an independent, non-profit organization and advocacy campaign committed to stopping Alzheimer's by 2020. USAgainstAlzheimer's works to speed the discovery of a treatment or cure for Alzheimer's by advancing policy and resources that support innovative Alzheimer's research. For more information, visit www.usagainstalzheimers.org.

Why 2020?

USAgainstAlzheimer’s has retained its goal of stopping Alzheimer’s by 2020 rather than endorsing the goal of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease that calls for preventing and effectively treating the disease by 2025. While we support the national plan and its goals, we believe, as most every family touched by Alzheimer’s disease believes, that preventing and effectively treating Alzheimer's by 2025 is simply too long a wait for concrete progress. There are promising avenues of drug discovery and development that will, if successful, deliver a means of slowing or deferring Alzheimer's symptoms by 2020. By voicing the urgency felt by so many families, we will pressure researchers and industry to do all in their power to make that happen.